Fisher has hat trick in Oiler loss
BY JOHN RITTENOURE World Correspondent
Monday, January 21, 2013
1/21/13 at 6:24 AM
Drew Fisher scored three goals to give the Tulsa Oilers a lead, but for the second straight game the Wichita Thunder could not be stopped and defeated the Oilers 5-4 in a Central Hockey League game.
Tulsa lost to the Thunder 3-2 on Saturday. Sunday's loss was Tulsa's fifth straight at home.
"We battled hard tonight," Oilers coach Bruce Ramsay said. "I thought we had a good third period and once again at the end of the game we had some great chances.
"It is frustrating seeing a great work ethic and not getting the results and points. I thought we battled hard all weekend against one of the best teams in the league."
Fisher started building his hat trick 6:59 into the first period when he found himself alone in front of the net and backhanded a shot past Thunder goalie Torrie Jung to put the Oilers up 1-0.
Wichita answered with a pair of power-play goals from RG Flath and Andrew Martens, but Fisher evened the game at 2-2 when he blasted a stick-side shot past Jung at 15:46.
Fisher completed his hat trick 2:03 into the second period on a breakaway, giving the Oilers their second lead of the game at 3-2.
However the contest then took an ugly turn.
Wichita scored three goals in a span of two minutes on Oilers rookie goalie Dan Clarke, who was playing his first game for Tulsa.
Shane Madolora replaced Clarke in goal, and the period ended with the Thunder leading 5-3.
Sean Erickson scored the only goal of the third period to pull the Oilers within one.
Madolora was pulled in the final minute as the Oilers tried for the tying goal, but the effort fell short.
Despite the loss, Ramsay said he liked what he saw in Fisher and Ben Gordon.
"Drew has been playing extremely well and getting better and better," Ramsay said of Fisher. "He had a breakaway on a power play that could have tied the game. He has improved 10-fold since we started the year.
"Ben Gordon had nine shots on net tonight. If he gets nine shots in most cases he is going to score a couple of goals and he did not have any tonight."
Thirty-six penalty minutes were handed out (18 for each team) resulting in Wichita capitalizing on three of nine power-play attempts while Tulsa was 2-of-9.
"For some reason lately we have not been getting a lot of penalties called, and tonight the referee decided he wanted to run the show," said Ramsay. "There were probably 10 power plays by each team and it really disrupted the game."
The Oilers return to the BOK Center on Tuesday to host the Arizona Sundogs in a 7:05 p.m. game.
THUNDER 5, OILERS 4
| Wichita |
2 |
3 |
0 |
- |
5 |
| Tulsa |
2 |
1 |
1 |
- |
4 |
First period: 1, Tulsa, Fisher, 7 (Schafer, Mariani) 6:59. 2, Wichita, Flath, 12 (Martens, Summers) 10:52 (pp). 3, Wichita, Martens, 4 (Trimm, Young) 12:42 (pp). 4, Tulsa, Fisher, 8 (Gordon, Erickson) 15:46 (pp). Penalties: Tulsa, Barlock (interference) 2:38. Wichita, Flath (tripping) 2:49. Wichita, Mohr (hooking) 4:24. Tulsa, Buvinow (cross checking) 10:15. Tulsa, Amesbury (roughing) 12:01. Wichita, Trimm (tripping) 14:39. Wichita, Boogied (abuse of officials) 14:39.
Second period: 5, Tulsa, Fisher, 9 (unassisted) 2:03. 6, Wichita, Flath, 13 (Wight, Summers) 7:03. 7, Wichita, Trimm, 19 (Robinson) 7:27. 8, Wichita, Hanson, 16 (Martens) 9:03 (pp). Penalties: Tulsa Barlock (hooking) 8:38. Wichita, Robinson (tripping) 9:31. Tulsa, Schafer (cross checking) 12:39. Wichita, Inman (elbowing) 14:06. Tulsa, Beausoleil (hooking) 15:13. Tulsa, Fleck (hooking) 16:16. Wichita, Summers (holding) 19:51.
Third period: 9, Tulsa, Erickson, 3 (Gordon), :41 (pp). Penalties: Wichita, Mohr (high sticking) 1:30. Tulsa, Cramer (tripping) 3:44. Wichita, Lowe (holding) 7:35. Tulsa, Gordon (hooking) 11:40.
Power plays: Wichita, 3-9. Tulsa, 2-9.
Shots: Wichita, 11-20-10 - 41. Tulsa, 10-6-11 - 27.
Saves: Wichita, Jung 8-5-10--23. Tulsa, Clarke 9-8-0 - 17, Madolora, 0-9-10 - 19.
Referee: Tudor Floru. A: 3,321.
Oilers up next
At Arizona
7:05 p.m. Tuesday
Associated Images:
Tulsa's Ryan Menei (left) battles for the puck against Wichita's Kevin Young during Sunday's game. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
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